ARMO Continues to Provide Value for Members

SEMA Member News—September/October 2011

New Website, Product Showcase, Trademark Overview

The new ARMO Trademark Licensing Overview is provided free of charge to ARMO members. It is the latest in a recent string of new and/or improved ARMO member benefits.

If you are in the automotive restoration industry and are looking for an edge in business, there is no better time to join the Automotive Restoration Market Organization (ARMO). In the first six months of 2011, ARMO launched four new and/or improved member benefits.

New Website

In late January 2011, ARMO launched a new website for the Take A Kid to a Car Show program. The new site includes features for kids and adults alike. Car show promoters can find helpful information and tips on how to promote an event to the local media and governments, find out why promoting Take a Kid to a Car Show is beneficial to their events and the industry, and download logos and public-service announcements. Kids will find coloring-book pages to download, a link to an iPhone app for more coloring fun and a photo gallery of cars and kids.

Both groups will find the Car Show Calendar to be a helpful feature, and there is also a contact page where anyone can forward information on cars shows as well as questions or testimonials about their experiences at car shows. More features will be added in the future.

Product Showcase

ARMO hosts a New Products Showcase each year at Spring Carlisle. ARMO-member companies may display their newest restoration products at no charge in front of the largest gathering of automotive restoration enthusiasts in the country. Each product is also professionally photographed, and the photographs are used in looping videos in the ARMO booth and at the ARMO awards reception at the SEMA Show. ARMO added yet another feature to this benefit in 2011, hosting the photographs with descriptions and company contact information on the ARMO webpages. For only the cost of shipping, ARMO members can enjoy a full year’s worth of prime exposure for their latest products.

Trademark Overview

Another project that has been in the works for some time is the ARMO Trademark Licensing Overview. ARMO Select Committee member Jim Christina of Dynacorn developed the idea after his own experience at obtaining trademark licenses from OEM automakers.

“This process can be very time consuming,” Christina said. “The OEMs are understandably protective of their brands, and there is no simple process. The OEMs not only want quality products for their names, but also to be sure the products come from quality companies. Our thought with this overview is to provide ARMO members with contact information and the basics of what they will need to pursue a trademark license with one of our automakers. While it does not provide everything needed to obtain a trademark license, it shows the member what types of information will be necessary and who to contact. Without this overview, a member has to start from Google like I did.”

Ford, GM and Chrysler each supported the idea for the overview and worked closely with ARMO and SEMA staff to produce the finished product. The overview is currently available only in hard copy and only to ARMO members. As of this writing, a copy has been mailed to each ARMO-member company and is provided to new ARMO members in their new-member kits.

Education

ARMO hosts education seminars each year at the Hotrod & Restoration Trade Show in Indianapolis. The seminars routinely get excellent reviews from attendees, which prompted ARMO leadership to look for a way to provide the benefit to all ARMO members. The council teamed with the SEMA Education Institute (SEI) to videotape the seminars and host them on both the eLearning Center website as well as through a direct link from the ARMO website (click on the “ARMO Education Seminars” link). Two seminars are available.

In session one, Dick Dixon presents “The Art of Selling.” Session two is a panel discussion on “How the Internet Can Help Your Business; Internet Marketing on a Budget,” moderated by ARMO Chairman Laura Bergan of American Collectors Insurance with panelists Tyler Tanaka of Cie Studios, Robert Basha of Auction 123 and Eric Saltrick of Steele Rubber Products. Each session is approximately one hour long.

Couple these four benefits to networking opportunities with other industry professionals and, as current ARMO members are fond of pointing out, “It’s the best $100 you can spend.” For more information, contact Jim Skelly at jimsk@sema.org.